Minnesota Duluth’s special teams Saturday was just that, special.
And so was Hunter Miska.
The freshman goaltender stopped all 30 shots he faced to lead a perfect penalty kill on Saturday. Meanwhile, the Bulldogs’ power play cashed in on two of its eight advantages in a 2-0 victory over Western Michigan on Saturday in front of 6,127 fans at Amsoil Arena to salvage a split of the NCHC series.
The unranked Broncos (6-3-1 overall, 3-3 NCHC) scored in the final half minute Friday night to win 4-3 and move within three points of the No. 1-ranked Bulldogs (8-2-2, 5-1) in the NCHC standings, but first-place UMD now hits the road this week to play at Nebraska-Omaha with a five-point lead on second-place Denver and six-point cushion on Western Michigan and Omaha.
“That was a good response by our team,” UMD coach Scott Sandelin said. “The penalty-killers did a good job. I thought we were much better tonight in a lot of areas. Our compete level was higher and it needed to be. They’re a good hockey team. It was a real good team effort from start to finish.”
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Bulldogs senior defenseman Carson Soucy set up both power-play goals Saturday. The 2013 Minnesota Wild fifth-round draft pick knocked a bouncing puck toward senior wing Alex Iafallo during a first-period power play. Iafallo, sitting right atop the Broncos’ crease, was able to put the puck away for a 1-0 lead.
On a power play in the second, the puck movement of Iafallo and Soucy opened things up for senior wing Kyle Osterberg on the opposite side of the offensive zone. Soucy dished to Osterberg, who buried his shot into an open net for a 2-0 lead.
UMD’s power play was converting on just 19 percent of its chances heading into Saturday night’s tilt after a strong start to the season in which it was clicking at a 24.1 percent rate. In the last five games, though, UMD’s power play was at 15.8 percent or 3-of-19 against NCHC competition.
“We’ve had good movement the past two weekends, but it’s nice to finally cash in on them,” Soucy said of the power play, which was 0-for-6 a week ago at St. Cloud State. “Last weekend we could have had a couple, but the bounces didn’t go our way. It’s nice to get those tonight. Special teams wins a lot of games down the road so, hopefully, we can keep it going.”
UMD’s power play took a hit in the third after it failed to convert on three-consecutive overlapping penalties by the Broncos that resulted in a two-minute, two-man advantage. It was that long in part because the blade on the skate of Broncos senior captain Sheldon Dries broke during the initial 5-on-3 Bulldogs advantage and Dries had to, from his knees, slash UMD senior captain Dominic Toninato to prevent a goal.
The penalty kill and Miska closed things out, though, with a late kill in the third. The Broncos returned to Kalamazoo, Mich., 0-for-6 on the power play Saturday and just 1-for-12 on the weekend.
“We do a really good job in that part of the game,” Miska said of the penalty kill, which is now at 84.4 percent on the season. “We work hard on it in practice all week. Obviously it’s been successful for us this year so far. … We get in lanes, push the guys, trust in our process and allow me to see the puck.”
Western Michigan.................... 0-0-0-0
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Minnesota Duluth.................... 1-1-0-2
First period - 1. UMD, Alex Iafallo 8 (Carson Soucy, Jared Thomas), 14:44 (pp). Penalties - Taylor Fleming, WMU (holding), 3:28; Willie Raskob, UMD (hooking), 5:29; Bench minor, UMD (too many men on the ice), 8:20; Scott Moldenhauer, WMU (cross checking), 14:05.
Second period - 2. UMD, Kyle Osterberg 6 (Soucy, Iafallo), 12:56 (pp). Penalties - Jade McMullen, WMU (tripping), 5:04; Joey Anderson, UMD (slashing), 7:43; Sheldon Dries, WMU (hooking), 11:24; Griffen Molino, WMU (interference), 15:14.
Third period - No scoring. Penalties - Cam Lee, WMU (slashing), 3:40; Corey Schueneman, WMU (holding), 4:39; Dries, WMU (slashing), 5:20; Dominic Toninato, UMD (holding), 13:06; Fleming, WMU (10-minute misconduct), 13:06.
Shots on goal - WMU 9-11-10-30; UMD 12-12-11-35. Goalies - Trevor Gorsuch, WMU (35 shots-33 saves); Hunter Miska, UMD (30-30). Power plays - WMU 0-of-6; UMD 2-of-8. Referees - Ian Croft, Jarrod Ragusin. Linesmen - Andy Dokken, Dana Penkivech. Att. - 6,127.
